Annual Education Results Report (1999-2000)

PRIVATE SCHOOL AUTHORITY RESPONSIBILITY

The Education Results Report for the 1999-2000 school year was prepared under the direction of Living Waters Christian Academy in accordance with the responsibilities specified in the School Act, the Government Accountability Act, the Alberta Education School Authority Education Plans Policy and the provincial government’s accounting policies.

The education results are used to the best of our abilities to develop three year education plans to ensure that all students have the opportunity to acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes and develop the godly character needed to be responsible, caring and contributing members of society.

Contextual Information

JURISDICTION PROFILE for current 2000-2001 school year

Living Waters Christian Academy is situated in Spruce Grove, a community of approximately 15,000 residents.  Our school serves the area covered by School Jurisdiction #70, Parkland.  118 students are presently enrolled in K-10.  22 students are registered in ECS, 66 in Grades 1- 6, 25 in grade 7-9 and 5 in grade 10.  Some of our instruction takes place in split-level classes.  The classes are combined as follows K, K/1, 2/3, 4, 5, 6, 7/8, 9/10.  Our teaching staff includes 7 full time teachers, a .40 FTE grade 6 teacher, a .20 FTE Music teacher, a .5 ECS Teacher who also teaches the Early Literacy Program, and an administrator who teaches .33 FTE.  Our maximum student/teacher ratio of 20/1is in grades 7/8. 

We offer Music 1-10, Bible, Foods 7-9, and Computer 7-9 as complementary courses.

The school offers a 475-hour ECS program.  The program begins September and ends in June.  Students attend two full days a week.  Students attend on one day a month for field trips and take swimming lessons for 5 afternoons in November. The low student/teacher ratio makes this a stimulating and interactive environment where students are showing good success.

Three pre-school classes are offered for 3 and 4 year olds.  They run for 2.5 hours a day, twice a week.

Our low student/teacher ratios allow us to effectively meet the needs of students with learning difficulties and with the need for enrichment beyond the regular curriculum.

Living Waters Christian Academy serves a broad spectrum of the Christian community.  Our mission focuses the activities of the school upon serving those Christians who desire that their children’s education be conducted within a Biblical worldview.  

Other

This year showed a marked increase in enrollment. Those families that have students attending Living Waters Christian Academy are committed to our distinctive mission resulting in an increase in our effectiveness in creating the school community outlined in the Vision section of this document.

Progress and Accomplishments

Report on priority areas for improvement for 199-2000

Goal 1:  Focus education on what students need to learn and ensure that high standards are established, communicated and achieved.

See the performance results under achievement tests.

According to grades 3, 6, 9 government standardized test our students achieved results higher than the province in Grade Six Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies. We matched provincial performance for acceptable in Grade Three Language Arts.

Our 1999-2002 Plan indicates a performance goal of 85 –100%.  In the 1999-2000 school year we achieved 77% Acceptable performance.  Grade 9 performance accounted for the significant drop in overall achievement. 100% of eligible students wrote the provincial achievement test.

Our goal for the present school year will be to raise the performance levels.  More class time continues to be allocated to Mathematics. The Computerized Math course (The Learning Equation) that we tried this year was not successful. The teacher moved them back to a text based, classroom taught program about mid-way through the year. Students did not perform as well as hoped in the Grade 9 Achievement tests.

Growth in student populations has allowed us to have more single grade classes than in any year previous. We believe that this will result in increased student performance.

Early Literacy Program – There were 4 Kindergarten, 2 grade one, and 1 grade two students served by the Early Literacy Initiative. According to the assessment of both the Early Literacy teachers and the students’ classroom teachers, there was significant improvement in the students’ ability to read.

Results of the Canadian Test of Basic Skills.

The CTBS was administered in the spring of 2000 to Grades 2,4,5,7,8. 90% of Students performed above grade level on the CTBS. 69% of the students tested were one grade or more above their chronological expectation.

Student performance concerns were addressed through testing by contracted professional staff and tutoring as well as maintaining a close working relationship with the student’s parents.

Parent satisfaction based on the 1998 - 99 parent survey. 

Please see the attached results report including graph.

97% of parents expressed that they were very satisfied or satisfied with the communication and performance of the school in educating their child.  The survey also indicated that the parents who send their children to LWCA do so because of the distinct mission and Christian emphasis that is the foundation for the school.

Summary:  The school will continue to develop its program with flexibility to meet the needs of the students by providing well trained, qualified, committed staff, maintaining a low student to teacher ratio, utilizing the necessary contract professional staff, and maintaining a close working relationship with the home.

Goal 2:  Parents have the opportunity to be involved in the formal education of their children at school.

As indicated on the parent satisfaction survey, 97% of parents who responded felt that they were satisfied with the opportunity they had to participate in their child’s education.  We have consistently had a high degree of parent participation in the classroom, on field trips, and in school support activities (i.e. fund-raisers, program planning, etc)

80% of our parent families attended our opening Parent Meet the Teacher Night. 95% of our families sent at least one parent to the first Parent/Teacher interview night.

The school will continue to work hard to maintain high parent support and involvement.  LWCA will attempt to choose its fund raising and other parent involved projects carefully to minimize the extra burden on parents. 

Opportunities for parents to volunteer their time, skills, and resources at the school are communicated regularly through parent meetings and the monthly newsletter. A file of parent skills and volunteer requests is kept to match with school needs as they arise.

Goal 3:  Necessary support is provided for the children with special needs within the context of our school in regards to its limitations.

During the 1999-2000 school year several students were suspected of having learning difficulties and/or speech impediments.  These students were referred for testing and the testing professional consulted with both the classroom teacher and the parents in regards to program modifications and learning strategies. We also made referrals through the Westview Student Health Initiative.

All referrals made have been followed up with consultation with parents and teachers.  Students were monitored and the necessary IPPs were developed.

Summary:  LWCA will continue to refer students for assessment when needs are suspected so that the appropriate resources and professionals can be activated to ensure the best possible learning opportunities.

Goal 4:  Teaching at LWCA is of consistently high quality.

LWCA sent two teachers to a week long Language Arts inservice using the Blended Sight and Sound program.  This program has had favourable results in the classroom and teachers report that it is highly effective and of great benefit to them.  The success of this program is supported by the usually excellent results in Language Arts indicated by the results on the grade 3, 6, 9 standardized tests.  New teachers will receive training in the Blended Sight and Sound program when ever possible so that we can maintain a consistently effective program throughout the school.  All staff attended a two-day Christian Educators Conference sponsored by The Association of Christian Schools International.  We used 95% of our conference and training budget for the 1999-2000 school year.

There is a high degree of cooperation, sharing, and collegiality among the staff.  The professional staff support one another and share strategies, ideas, and experiences, which results in increased learning through the school.

The 1999-2000 parental survey indicated that 100% of parents were satisfied with the quality of their child’s education and 94% were satisfied with the instruction they were receiving.

The CTBS results indicate high performance in most areas.  Results are used to identify problems with learning and to offer remedial help to students.

In 1999-2000 students were surveyed about their satisfaction with the quality of education at LWCA.  The results of this survey are as follows:

• Variety of approaches  100%
• Clear expectations  100%
• Clear behaviour expectations  100%
• Teacher help and support  100%

Summary:  In informal interaction teachers and parents express a high degree of satisfaction with the teaching at LWCA.  The formal survey and anecdotal comment from parents indicate that they are happy with the education their children are receiving.

Goal 5:  Information technology is integrated into education to enhance student learning and increase efficiency and flexibility of delivery.

The Grade 8 and 9 Math computer based curriculum did not result in increased student performance. Students were taken off the computer and returned to the regular classroom where the teacher taught from a textbook. The initial motivation provided by the technology waned quickly and the students found the lessons easy to skip through without learning occurring. The exception was a student who was internally motivated and who took particular care with her learning.

Most classrooms have at least one computer.  The upper elementary grades used the computer extensively for preparing and editing their written work. As well as working on science related games and programs.

Goal 7:  Ensure that the process of delivering education to the students is open and accountable.

Parents have input into the school through participation on the board and through general meetings.  Consistently high attendance by parents at these meeting is a goal of the school.  1999-2000 showed an increase in attendance.  LWCA encourages direct communication with teachers and administration regarding issues of concern. 

Parent involvement in the school is extremely important for the school and is one of the foundations of our school’s philosophy.  We have a high level of parent involvement and a high level of satisfaction with the opportunities offered to be involved in the school.  97% of parents expressed satisfaction with the opportunities provided to them.

Communication between the home and school is a high priority for LWCA.  We facilitate this through monthly newsletters, quarterly report cards, parent/teacher interviews, report on CTBS and grades 3, 6, 9 provincial standardized test, and bi-annual parent/board meetings.

Board meeting highlights are published in the monthly newsletter and all records and financial reports are available to the parents.  Many reporting documents including the AERR and the Three Year Plan are available on our website at www.lwca.ab.ca

Percentage of school budget spent on instruction.

	1997-1998	1998-1999	1999-2000
Instruction	65%	65%	59%
Administration and instruction support	18%	22%	25%
Operation and Maintenance	17%	13%	13%

This site is maintained by Gordon Poultney, a parent of the school.